I'd been sat staring at Amanda's back for so long, I was surprised holes weren't burning into her top from the intensity of my lust filled gaze. From my seat at the back of the lecture theatre, I had a perfect view of her down on the front row, chewing on the end of her pen.
That was one of the first things I liked about her, of all the students in here, she was the only one not typing away on a laptop, instead scrawling her notes down the old fashioned way. There was something charming and unique about it, alongside all the other adorable things I watched her do in these lectures.
"Your assignment for the weekend is to pair up and watch 'The House in the Wood." Mr Dickens turned away from us all to begin wiping off the notes from today's lecture.
"Make the usual observations and then you'll present in twos on Monday. Enjoy the weekend."
Everyone got to their feet and began to traipse over to the door. I hung behind, hoping to catch Mr Dickens on his own. "Excuse me sir," I said, trying to catch his attention as he loaded his files into a brown satchel.
"What is it Jennifer?" He sounded impatient, no doubt eager to get to outside and light up one of those hideous roll up cigarettes of his.
"I...I can't afford to buy the film. I don't suppose you have a spare copy I could borrow?"
He began walking past me, talking as he pulled open the door to the corridor. "When you signed onto the course, you agreed to purchase whatever items were needed did you not?" He didn't wait for me to answer. "Either find a way to watch that film or expect an F on Monday."
He marched off, leaving the door to swing shut behind him. I slumped down into a chair on the front row, head in my hands.
"Are you all right?"
I looked up to see Amanda leaning into the room, looking concerned.
"Yes...yes I'm fine," I replied, jumping to my feet, my heart pounding at the fact she was talking to me for the first time ever. We'd been in the same class for three months now and I'd yet to pluck up the courage to speak to her and here she was walking over and putting a hand on my shoulder, I could have cartwheeled for joy across the entire campus at her touch.
"I heard what he said. What a dick."
I giggled involuntarily, wiping away the tear that had formed at the corner of my eye. "I'm okay, honestly."
"Listen, I've got the film back at mine. If you want, we could pair up and watch it together?"
"But weren't you meant to be working with Alan?"
"Oh he's a bigger dick than Dickens, I'd rather have another girl beside me on my sofa than a guy that tries to get his hand in my pants every ten seconds."
I blushed when she said that.
"Have I embarrassed you?" she asked as I got to my feet.
"No, it's just I'm sure men hit on you all the time but I've never..." The sentence seemed to trail off into nothing.
"Hey, you're not missing much, trust me. Come on, let me give you my number."
So that was how I ended up curled up at Amanda's house, her parents were downstairs making dinner whilst we sat in her room and she hit on play on the remote.
Within five minutes of the film starting, I was wishing I'd never enrolled on the film class. I'd never been a big fan of scary movies but this one was absolutely terrifying. When the monster first appeared on the screen, I nearly leapt out of my skin, letting out an involuntary scream.
"Are you all right?" Amanda asked, turning and smiling at me.
"It's a bit-"
"Scary?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, come here." She put her arm out and beckoned me towards her. To my infinite delight I was able to move over and lean against her. We sat like that for a while, her arm wrapped round me. I could have frozen the moment in my head to relive a hundred times at home. Her hand reached my waist and I could feel the soft touch of her fingers on my side. Her arm draped round me and I found my head nestling into the cruck of her shoulder. If I glanced down I could see the shapely curve of her breasts under her patterned tee shirt. It had a fashionable rip down the front, creating a v neck shape which revealed a hint of her cleavage. What I wouldn't have given to place my tongue down there. It was incredible but also painful to see, knowing I couldn't touch her. I could never admit to fancying her, to desiring her, to wanting to tear her clothes off. What if she laughed at me? Told everyone I was a raving dyke? Though can you even be a lesbian if you've never had sex with anyone, man or woman?
I could smell the light scent of soap coming from her skin and whenever she moved her head, her long dark hair brushed the back of my neck. The monster reappeared and I gasped, grabbing hold of Amanda with my arm and holding her tightly, not looking at the screen.